It’s been more than 20 years since the mega-bestseller Chicken Soup for the Soul hit bookshelves. Since then, 250 titles have been published in what became the phenomenally popular “Chicken Soup” series which has sold over 100 million inspirational books.

So, what’s new in the soup pot? Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude (Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC), is a collection of stories compiled this time by the publisher of the series, Amy Newmark, along with her co-editor, journalist and Inside Edition host Deborah Norville.

Newmark recently talked to Parade about how she decided to tackle this topic, how she chooses the stories they print and other soup-related matters.

How did you decide to make gratitude the focus of the newest Chicken Soup book?

Believe it or not, even though we’ve done more than 250 different titles, we had never done a book specifically on this topic. Pretty amazing!

Then, last year, Deborah Norville and I did a book together called, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Possible, and as we were making that book, we saw so many stories about the power of counting your blessings and the power of gratitude that I said to her, let’s do that next year.

Deborah is a big expert on the power of thankfulness; it’s a topic that always fascinated her, so she’s read a lot of the research on the topic. Thousands of stories were submitted for the book and we had to narrow it down to 101. For me, it was a great topic because I’m always grateful for things, so much so that my kids in the past have said, mom, you’re just rationalizing. But I think finding the good in any situation is not rationalizing, it’s just plain rational.

Why is being grateful so important?

I really believe that people who are grateful and thankful for what is in their life, end up being much happier. They are healthier, they’re more successful, and they have better relationships at work and in their families and with friends because everybody likes a positive person.

In the book’s foreword, Deborah actually cited research proving scientifically that people who use the power of gratitude do better in life in so many different ways.

What if being grateful doesn’t come easily to you?

You don’t have to be a naturally grateful person. If you’re not somebody for whom this comes naturally, that is not a problem because we have so many stories where we show you how you can deliberately practice adding gratitude into your life until it becomes natural. It is amazing.

How do you cull from thousands of letters to select the final 101? That sounds like a huge job.

We usually get around 5,000 submissions for each Chicken Soup title and we read every single one. Every submission is read by our team of editors, and it takes months to read them all and then narrow down the list to 2 or 300 finalists for me. When I have a co-author, such as Deborah, my co-author will read the finalists with me. And in the case of The Power of Gratitude, Deborah and I discussed them and we exchanged notes then decided together which would be the 101 that would make it into the book.

Tell us about the story in the book called “The Joy of Dirty Dishes.”

That story is a great example of somebody saying, wait a minute, “I signed up for this on purpose! I love having all this work to do.” That’s one of the points I make on my podcast and in my book coming out in October, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Simply Happy: A Crash Course in Chicken Soup for the Soul Advice and Wisdom, which is that, you did sign up for these things and you are this busy and this stressed because you have a full, wondrous life. Right? If you didn’t have this life that was so full of joy and people who you love and projects that you have voluntarily undertaken, you wouldn’t be this busy. But you’re this busy because you have voluntarily chosen all of these things.

What’s different about the Simply Happy book?

It’s actually very different from other Chicken Soup for the Soul books because it’s not a compilation of stories from 101 people. Simply Happy is my first book written solely by me. I call it a crash course in Chicken Soup for the Soul wisdom.

And here’s why: when I became publisher nine years ago, I actually came from Wall Street where my whole career had been as a business executive in technology. I came from this hard-nose business. I was a short seller on Wall Street where I was always finding companies engaging in fraud and turning them into the SEC so they could be shut down. I mean, I’m 5’3”, but I was scary. Then somehow I became the Chicken Soup for the Soul lady, which is what people actually call me.

Anyway, this book came about because when we took over the company in 2008.

You took over the company started by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, the motivational speakers who wrote the original book Chicken Soup for the Soul, correct?

That’s right. And at that point, I sat down and read all the old books. I read more than 10,000 Chicken Soup for the Soul stories. And it was a crash course in Chicken Soup for the Soul advice and wisdom and it was life changing for me.

How so?

I’ve published more than 10,000 stories and I read all the ones we don’t publish also. Everybody says that I’m different now, that I’m more grounded. I’m even more grateful than I used to be. I’m less stressed about things. I’m more optimistic, more fun, and nicer. I took everything I learned in my original crash course plus nine more years of doing this and distilled all of those great tips, that advice, that wisdom into Simply Happy, which is all of my simple tips to make you have a happier life. My tips are incredibly simple, and almost all of them can be implemented in one second because they just represent a change in your mindset.

Is there a Chicken Soup for the Soul movie in the works?

There is but it hasn’t started shooting yet. We do have a TV show that’s on CBS on weekend mornings called Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Hidden Heroes. We’re about to start our second season.

AMG/Parade Digital

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